DirecTV price increase.

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by JBStephens, Mar 8, 2018.

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  1. I gotta say that I was extremely surprise with my call just last week to Comcast Xfinity. I anticipated a fight.

    I stay with them for the convenience and I am getting very fast downloads of 200-275 MPS. Also their iPad app is fabulous. I travel and can watch things I DVR'd on my iPad whoever I am.

    I was paying about 225 all in w taxes. Way too much so I called. I did sacrifice HBO which is I want to get (mostly for John Oliver and Bill Maher-Im not a GOT fan) I can always get the app for $15. for a few months at a time.

    Anyway the woman rep was great and said let's take a look at your account after I told her that I wanted a better deal. They have an $89 package that adds up to $123 with DVR, modem rental and taxes. All those little BS line items. Anyway, for now I feel that $123 is well worth for what I am getting. Off course I could buy my own modem and save another $10 or so, but I am satisfied for now.

    The negotiation was painless this time. We shall see what happens in a year.
     
    Jrr likes this.
  2. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    I just talked with them, and they lowered my bill. Many kudos to AT&T! But I'm still going to drop it come August when my contract is up. TV just isn't that important to me. Actually, I can't stand it. Everything has to ZIP and ZOOM and BOUNCE and STRETCH and SCROLL and OOZE, and you can't watch ANY channel without that damn "logo in to corner" thing. It gives me a headache.
     
  3. tomhayes

    tomhayes Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca
    Cable TV with a DVR and an "okay package" of WITHOUT the promo deals cost around $175 now in San Diego, 5 years ago it was $120. (I checked my bills)

    That's nearly a 50% increase in 5 years - and they wonder why people are leaving??
     
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  4. Benno123

    Benno123 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio
    Different animal, I know, but last month I was clearing space off an old bookshelf and found an electric bill from January 2008 in a book as a bookmark I suppose. I compared to January 2018, almost same usage I was billed for but what 10 years ago was approx $40 (I think I paid $41.53 if I remember correctly) was now $109 and change. We don’t do budget on electric so that was a shocker to see that. I wish I could find a cable and gas bill now to see what those were!
     
  5. mdm08033

    mdm08033 Senior Member

    I trimmed the cord when MadMen was huge. I loved the picture quality of the high bit rate Amazon shows that downloaded to the hard drive on my TiVo. Especially because they lacked the AMC logo and banner ads.
     
  6. JBStephens

    JBStephens I don't "like", "share", "tweet", or CARE. In Memoriam Thread Starter

    Location:
    South Mountain, NC
    I remember when AMC was just that... American Classic Movies. Entire movies without commercials or screen garbage. Then they started showing commercials between movies. I could live with that. Then they started showing commercials in the middle of movies. Then they started the "logo" thing. So it became just another channel that I don't watch.
     
    Alan G. likes this.
  7. head_unit

    head_unit Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles CA USA
    I believe that is really true-weirdly, since Business 101 tells you it is much cheaper to retain customers than get new ones. I would have thought maybe it was just AT&T stupidity, since they first of all asked if I wanted to change to a cheaper cellular plan-yahoo! amazing!-then (I had to find this one) bundled with DIRECTV...but then refused to renew that bundle rate! So I changed to T-Mobile eventually out of annoyance and disgust, and save like $50/month. I also dumped U-Verse Internet since websites were always slow, and problems like "resolving host" that neither they not I could fix (*somewhat* better with Spectrum). Now I'm changing DIRECTV hardware and in the course of that was told the bill would go up from $92 to $99...WHA?!?! It should be around $60, yet another thing to track down what the @#$% is going on...
     
  8. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    This is similar to how things operate in Canada. You should check your contract because up here, if the telecommunication provider breaks their word, you legally have the ability to leave without any penalties. That's what I did once. I had a 12-month contract and the price went up dramatically. Left without so much as needing to pay a cent.
     
  9. Cliff

    Cliff Magic Carpet Man

    Location:
    Northern CA
    I cancelled Directv about 6 months ago after being a loyal sub for nearly 20 years. And I'll never go back to them. I swear AT&T is trying to run them under.
     
    Jrr and Dude111 like this.
  10. Cliff

    Cliff Magic Carpet Man

    Location:
    Northern CA
    But on a positive note, they have some of the best TV commercials out there right now :laugh:
     
  11. I'm torn on this one. Longtime DirecTV customer, and I too am tired of the constant price hikes and fee increases.

    OTOH, my wife and I have a TV on pretty much 24/7 (she sleeps with it on). It's "background" while we do other things. Cooking, cleaning, Web Surfing, chores, etc. It can be one of the sports channels, HGTV, Movies, Cooking, News, etc etc etc. Sometimes we pay only enough attention to skip through commercials (almost everything is recorded). Other times we are glued to it, usually for movies or Binging (just caught up with Broadchurch). I feel on a cost per hour of entertainment, it's "reasonable" for us. :hide:

    And I feel sorry for the Cable industry. EVERY channel wants more money from them, even the OTA Broadcast Networks that are free in large parts of the Country. We live in an area that gets ZERO OTA Signal, so it has to be Cable/Sat. Actors want more $$$, Directors more $$$, Athletes & Entertainers $$$$$$$ - everything is going up. Because of this, they have almost no choice but to increase revenue, and Ad revenue isn't keeping pace with costs.

    In the meantime, the Customer base is disappearing due to Cord Cutting and changing habits.

    This is a downward spiral that may go on for a long time. I did see a couple of stories that it will be a decent long term prospect though. As more & more Services appear to try to get a share of this new market, each will create unique content in an effort to get more subscribers. We already have: Netflix. Amazon Prime. HULU. YouTube Red. Apple TV. Playstation Vue. More are announced or launched that have a monthly Fee. Disney is one I can remember, but I know I've heard of others. Each of these is at least $10/month, usually more, and their fees are going up as well. This will get costly too. I can see a cut rate package that comes out that has just a few popular channels that would include a couple of movie channels as well at about $40-70/month including all fees, becoming very successful. It would not have any of the super high fee channels (ESPN, HBO/Starz, etc), but would have an oldies channel or two, HGTV, DIY, & a cooking channel, along with something like AMC, Turner Classics, and all of the classic networks (ABC/CBS/NBC/PBS) and a couple of popular Cable channels (USA/TNT/SciFi)

    It's going to be a bumpy ride.
     
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  12. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    And who you get on the phone. Hang up and try again if who you speak to won't help. Better yet, try not to use any of them. They don't deserve rhe customers they have. It makes me sp angry every time I go to Costco and see Direct TV there signing people up, knowing they do all they can to chase you out again.
     
  13. Jrr

    Jrr Forum Resident

    Very valid points; I happen to agree with you. Not everyone will agree with me, but my issues are about them forwarding unauthorized increases, not the increases themselves. I'm a business owner. If I raise my prices, my clients can go elsewhere. That's our system and that's fine. Guys, what if you agreed to buy a car, you paid a deposit committing you, and then you went to pick it up and it was $5,000 more? Would you buy it? I'm sorry, but I don't see any difference when they commit to something and then the rate just magically changes after they agreed to something else. We don't tolerate that with other products. Why do we when it comes to the cable industry? I cannot belive Direct TV just put three premium channels on my package that I did NOT order, and then they tell me it was for my convenience!!?? And it's my fault because I didn't notice it at first, so they won't credit me the two months it was on my bill? And the guy inferred that I "must" have enjoyed and watched those channels? Huh? Where do they train these customer service guys?? It pisses me off beyond words. I would be SO out of business if I authorized my employees to handle things like that. So would most others. What makes the cable companies so special?

    I'm not fine with unauthorized rate increases when you are under contract and it states the terms clearly, and then you call and they find a way to weasle out of it AND act surprised you have an issue with it. This is not okay. It is counterintuitive to everything I know about business and it makes me very angry because I know that most folks just give up and pay it. That is not right, and they know exactly what they are doing! Why anyone in the world would want to be a part of that organization is just beyond me. And why would anyone want to work the customer service phones? I can't imagine a worse job than working customer service for companies such as this which drives primarily calls from angry customers. Can you imagine how they feel going into work, knowing what they have to face every day? Shame on upper managment policy makers that make cable customers angry, and make their employees the brunt of the anger. It amazes me how a few people in our world can effect so many people's lives. Yes, this is overly dramatic. But anyone that has had to call a health care insurance company, a "C" grade credit card provider or a cable company with an issue knows what I'm talking about. It is incredibly frustrating, and the more they "know" that they are scamming people, the harder the experience becomes if you need to resolve anything. That is what I'm speaking to.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2018
    SoCalWJS likes this.
  14. stereoptic

    stereoptic Anaglyphic GORT Staff

    Location:
    NY
    Yep, Comcast/Xfinity has a 'Loyalty' department (or something like that) that allows you to work out a better deal.
     
  15. Yep. I think they can get away with the BS Philosophy of "WE're not increasing your RATE, but some of our FEES went up and we have pass that along"

    A rose by any other name.

    Some States (Hello CALI) have done the same thing in the past. The Courts said NO, and the FEES went down. For awhile. Then snuck back up. ARGHHHH!!! They (Businesses and Governments) keep getting away with it.
     
    Jrr likes this.
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